Miller et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,742, issued Jan. 19, 1999, shows a cover for an electric meter with a plurality of integrally molded light pipes in the middle of the front cover for utilizing an optics probe, the purpose of which is not further described or illustrated.
Huber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,855, issued May 18, 2004, shows a meter register cover with a lens for focusing light through a light pipe.
Neither of these teachings address the problem of modern meters which are retrofitted with radio frequency modules for transmitting metering data.
The existing gas meter indexes have a transparent index housing cover that allows data to be transmitted through it. However, because the meter index takes up most of the surface area of the front of the index housing, data must be transmitted out of one side of the index housing. This is a problem, however, where multiple gas meters are installed side-by-side in apartment buildings. In that case a handheld device cannot be positioned on one side of the index housing where the signals would be communicated.
It is therefore desirable to provide a new solution for designing a meter register cover with a single integral light pipe to solve the problem of utilizing line-of-sight type wireless communications.